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In a small mixing bowl, using a mixing spoon blend together all of the ingredients except the eggs and paprika. With a sharp knife, split the eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks to a separate mixing bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork and then blend in the mayonnaise mixture. Refill the egg whites with the mixture, smoothing the top with the fork. If you really like tradition, sprinkle some paprika on top.

Yield: 2 dozen deviled eggs

Software :

½ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons minced onion

2 tablespoons minced celery

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground white

pepper

¼ teaspoon celery salt

12 hard-cooked eggs, peeled

Paprika (optional)

Hardware :

2 mixing bowls

Mixing spoon or rubber spatula

Sharp knife

Mom’s Egg Salad

Egg salad is another great use for hard-cooked eggs. Pumpernickel is the only acceptable bread to use for an egg-salad sandwich.

With a chef’s knife, coarsely chop the eggs and put them in a mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon, fold the remaining ingredients into the eggs. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to let the flavors blend.

Yield: Filling for 8 sandwiches

Software :

12 hard-cooked eggs, peeled

⅓ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed

lemon juice

1 teaspoon celery salt

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground white

pepper

1 cup finely diced celery

Hardware :

Chef’s knife

Mixing bowl

Wooden spoon

CHAPTER 10

Microwave Cooking

Why is this chapter at the end of the book? Because it’s the only application by which food actually cooks itself.

Catch a Wave

What the heck happened to my Mars bar?

—Dr. Percy Spencer

If appliance makers are correct, some 96 percent of American homes contain at least one microwave oven. Most of these are employed in the warming of coffee, the popping of popcorn, and the occasional “nuking” of frozen foods. When you consider what this technology is capable of, this seems a lot like using an aircraft carrier to pull a water-skier. Sure, it can do the job, but that’s not the point. The microwave oven can do some amazing things—the trick is to understand how it works well enough to know what to feed it.

But first, some history. It began, as these things often do, with a guy in a lab coat. The guy was Dr. Percy Spencer, and the lab coat belonged to the Raytheon Corporation. One day in 1946, Dr. Spencer was futzing about with a new kind of vacuum tube that (it was hoped) would revolutionize the radar industry. It was called a magnetron tube, and, after working on it awhile, Doc Spencer decided it was time for a snack. He reached into his lab coat pocket for a chocolate bar and found that it had turned to mush. It’s been a short leap from that melted candy bar to the distinctive hum heard at 3:00 A.M. in 7-Elevens across the country.

When I set out to understand the microwave, I hunted up an industry expert who prefers to remain anonymous.

Me: Uh, what’s a microwave?

Expert: A form of electromagnetic energy.

Me: Hmm. What’s electromagnetic energy?

Expert: Waves of electrical and magnetic energy that move together through space.

Me: I see.

Expert: Sure you do. Let me draw you a picture.

Me: Ah, yes. So how do you make one of these wavy things?

Expert: Well, you create an electromagnetic wave any time you feed an electric current through a conductor, such as a copper wire. But that kind of energy stays very close to the wire. However, if you oscillate it at a rapid rate…

Me: Oscillate?

Expert: Reverse polarity.

Me: I knew that.

Expert: When you do that, the electromagnetic field breaks free and a wave moves outward like ripples on a pond. In microwave ovens we use a device called a magnetron tube to create and direct these waves.

Me: Are they dangerous?

Expert: If you’re inside the microwave.

Me: That’s not really what I meant.

Expert: You have to remember that these are non-ionizing waves. They’re not that much higher in frequency than television and radio broadcast waves, which we’re exposed